Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has awarded the nation's highest honor for women to U.S. First Lady Melania Trump. The Order of Princess Olga, 1st Class, was presented for her "significant personal contribution to humanitarian support for Ukraine," according to a presidential decree.
This award follows a ceasefire in Ukraine's southern Kherson region, which facilitated the evacuation of several hundred people from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky. Both Ukrainian and Russian delegations, including ombudsmen and senior officials involved in the evacuation, are scheduled to meet at the White House on Thursday at Melania Trump's invitation.
The White House stated that Melania Trump "independently initiated engagement between the two warring nations and successfully secured a ceasefire," describing it as an "unprecedented diplomatic initiative by an American First Lady."
Both Russian and Ukrainian sides expressed gratitude to Melania Trump for brokering the ceasefire, though details of her involvement remain undisclosed. The delegations traveling to Washington include Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, his Russian counterpart Yana Lantratova, Ukrainian MP Davyd Arakhamia, and Russian senior official Kirill Dmitriev.
Lubinets and Lantratova previously traveled together into Oleshky, marking an unusual instance of cooperation between Russian and Ukrainian officials. Arakhamia, head of Zelensky's party in parliament, has been part of previous Ukrainian negotiating teams and confirmed his participation in the upcoming talks.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Lantratova and Dmitriev, a Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin involved in U.S.-brokered ceasefire talks, will represent Russia. While Arakhamia and Dmitriev are experienced negotiators, diplomatic meetings convened at the initiative of a U.S. First Lady are rare.
No specific details about the White House event have been released. "There are important meetings ahead," Lubinets posted on social media. Melania Trump is also slated to deliver remarks on the Oleshky ceasefire at 11:00 AM EST on Thursday.
The presidential decree also cited Melania Trump's broader humanitarian efforts, particularly concerning Ukrainian children affected by the war, as reasons for the award. In 2025, she reportedly stated that an "open channel of communication" had been established with Russian President Vladimir Putin to facilitate the reunification of Ukrainian children displaced by the war with their families.
The United Nations has classified the deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia as a crime against humanity and a war crime. Ukraine estimates that nearly 20,000 children have been illegally sent to Russia and Belarus since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
In a separate diplomatic development, Russian, Ukrainian, and American representatives are expected to meet in Abu Dhabi next week for trilateral talks focused on postwar security agreements and de-escalation. This will be the first such meeting since February, according to U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.